


Love is blind (so is this date)

by frostedgoddess



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Miscommunication, Mistaken Identity, blind dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 21:25:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9091363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostedgoddess/pseuds/frostedgoddess
Summary: A brief history of three bad dates, and a whole lifetime of good ones. 
aka, Evie ain't all that.





	1. A diamond in the rough.

**Author's Note:**

> Do not look for plausibility with this. You won't find much.  
> I am so tired of writing Carlos who doesn't do Tourney but they can't be on the same team and have never met.  
> Dedicated to JKelly for being a bae.  
> Chad is lowkey a hoe, so bear with me, and Audrey does bitchy things.  
> As always, OCs and Amir in end notes.

“Please Jay? He’d be an amazing match for you!”

 

“Evie! Please no more blind dates, I can’t deal with it, I don’t have to remind you what happened every time you’ve tried this.”

 

“No…”

* * *

 

Audrey

 

“Hello?”

 

Jay looked up from his long-cold mocha at a cherubic girl, who looked so polished it instantly made his nicest outfit feel like he’d dug it out from the trash. And yet, despite her rosy gloss and flawless hairdo, there was a harshness in the upturned corners of her mouth and the edges of her eyes. A harshness that made Jay feel instantly at home. A sudden chill gripped his insides that matched the park bench he had been parked on for over an hour.

 

“I’m Audrey Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty, cheerleading captain, heiress to the former Phillipan Kingdom. Pleased to meet you.”

 

Jay felt as though he had just been handed a résumé. And Princess Perfect wasn’t looking like a great candidate for his new date.

 

“I know that you know all of that already anyways!” Audrey chattered on, smile getting impossibly wider as she spoke. “Sorry I’m late though, I totally forgot to come! But drinks are on me as an apology, and a thank you for waiting.”

 

Jay smiled at her, though it wasn’t his real smile but he doubted she’d be able to tell. However, he did like her honesty and her willingness to attempt to repair her mistakes.

 

“That’s okay.” Jay lied smoothly, not missing the subtle widening of her eyes at his physique. Jay knew he looked good; fit and strong. But he was looking for a little bit more than someone who looked nice and thought he looked nice.

 

Audrey handed him a folded-up bank note, “I’ll have a small skinny mocha frap, extra whip. Get yourself whatever you want!”

Oh _hell_ no.

Jay ordered her a large cappuccino, extra hot and the blind date went downhill very fast after that.

 

* * *

 

“Well, they weren’t all bad, were they?”

 

“Next you set me up with a dude!”

 

“Jay, you like guys, I know you do.”

 

“Yeah, but Chad doesn’t!”

 

* * *

 

 

Chad

 

“So, Jay, was it?” A blonde jock type said, not even looking up from his JMNI as he spoke. “What’s that short for, Jacinta or Jaclyn or something? I’m Chad.”

 

Jay blinked, “Sorry, what?”

“Jay’s cute though, I can work with that if you don’t feel like sharing.”

 

Five minutes later and Chad still hadn’t looked up from his smart phone, or realised that his date had the voice of a man post-puberty.

 

“Anyways, so then I scored the winning goal by myself!”

As someone who played tourney, and played it well, Jay knew it wasn’t possible to singlehandedly score several goals.

 

“Great…” Jay said insincerely, but Chad didn’t even pause.

 

“Are you two ready to order?” The waitress asked.

Chad rattled off something that wasn’t even on the menu, like the dickhead he really was.

 

“Could I please get the lobster with truffle fries instead of a side salad.” Jay requested pleasantly because if he wasn’t getting anything out of this colossal waste of time, he was getting a free meal.

 

“Wow, a woman with an appetite, love it.” Chad said absentmindedly. Jay was starting to think his mind was not absent, but on a permanent vacation.

The waitress looked puzzled by that, but Jay just shrugged in helplessness.

 

“Anyways, so I’m not really looking for anything serious but my parents were married at 19 and so, pressure is on to find myself a princess. So if you show up to the balls…” Chad stopped to laugh. “in pretty dresses. I can’t take my eyes off of you all night blah de blah. Then that will get my parents off my back!”

 

“Are you really that fucking dumb or are you just short sighted?” Jay said as he snapped.

“That is so rude.” Chad still hadn’t looked up once

Jay stood up, shaking the table as he moved his chair back with the back of his knees, the expensive wooden legs screeching on the marble flooring.

That, at least, made Chad look up.

 

“Who are you? Where is Jay? What have you done with her?”

“I’m just leaving.”

Jay never heard back.

 

* * *

 

 

“But his hair was always so perfectly coiffed?”

“Evie, my hair is like a bird nest.”

“No, I know that, but also spends all his time talking himself up to all these dudes.”

“I think he is just self-centred.”

“Well I set him and Audrey up after your fiascos and they hit it right off.”

“I am happy for them, and good on you, but I’m still not agreeing to any more dates. Maybe I need to find someone organically or whatever.”

Evie’s eyes narrowed and Jay knew he’d be going on that date, whether he liked it or not.

 

* * *

 

 

Carlos

 

“Hi, I’m Carlos!” A lithe boy slid into the cheap plastic chair opposite to Jay. The coffee shop was bustling and noisy beyond belief so Jay almost missed the newcomers name.  

Jay looked up, his half-written speech for letting his date down gently fading away at the mega-watt smile being aimed at him.

“I’m Jay. Do you maybe wanna go somewhere else?”

The coffee shop was crammed full of students cramming in last minute knowledge as the exams approached.

“Sure.”

 

The two made their way to an abandoned park bench and hit it off immediately.

 

“So then, the guy looks up and is all, ‘Maiden! Where are, you oh maiden?’” Jay mocks Chad with an airy voice.

Carlos laughed and nodded, his hand resting on Jay’s thigh, and Jay wasn’t entirely sure when they had gotten so close but he didn’t mind at all.

 

“So, how do you feel about our school’s tourney team?” Carlos asked, at the conclusion of a lengthy conversation about the last season of pro Tourney and the upcoming finals.

“Carlos, I’m in the school Tourney team. Number 8?”

Carlos blinked, “I guess you always wear a helmet on the field so I didn’t really recognise you. But congratulations on so many victories.”

 

“Thank you, that’s very sweet.” Jay leant forward to ruffle his date’s hair gently. “So why does a cutie like you need to resort to blind dating?”

Carlos went pink, Jay wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment over the question or the compliment. “Well, I want to be confident that whomever I date is not a total psycho or surgically attached to their phone.” Carlos slid their hands together. “But if you spend too long getting to know someone yourself then you can end up in the friendzone.”

 

Jay understood and nodded. “So you let someone get to know people and set you up. That’s not actually a bad idea.” Carlos nodded, relieved that Jay got it. But what he didn’t say was that he was rather shy around new people.

“That ‘someone’ being Evie.”

“She organised those other nightmare dates I was telling you about before.”

 

“Evie isn’t as good at matchmaking as she wishes she was. And not nearly as good as she thinks she is.” Carlos said, taking a bag of mini Reese’s out of his pocket and immediately eating three before offering the bag to Jay.

             

“I’m not sure about that, we seem to match up pretty well, don’t we?”

“Oh,” Carlos blushed, suddenly looking surprised, as if he hadn’t realised Jay thought they matched up so well. “I mean, you’re all that and a side of chips and I’m just…”

Carlos gestured down at himself a little sadly.

Jay rolled his eyes, “That is the only thing you’ve said that I disagree with all day, you’re cute as hell.  And, you’re a tourney fan!”

Carlos beamed and Jay had to physically resist the urge to shield his eyes from what could have passed for the light of the Sun.

 “Hey, so you know how we were talking about the finals, I have tickets to Granite City versus Fantasia Flamingos. Would you like to come with me?”

 

Jay then caught sight of his watch out of the corner of his eye and dropped Carlos’ hand. “Oh fuck, is that the time? I’m so sorry to cut this short, but I have Tourney practice like five minutes ago.”

Carlos’ beautiful face fell. “Okay…”

“Hey, but I have your number and I’m serious about seeing that game with you on Saturday.”

“Okay, bye Jake!”

Carlos then up and left, and Jay was halfway to practise when he paused, mouthing the name _Jake_ in confusion.


	2. Good to go

Jay was determined to correct Carlos as soon as possible, but after an awkward, yet emotional talk with Amir, developed an actual plan. They weren’t super close but his teammate had noticed his troubled expressions and they’d talked during tackling drills.

 

“And it was super loud in the coffee shop when we first met and so he now thinks my name is Jake.”

“Dude, yikes. You’re gonna have to tread lightly with this one.”

 

Amir explained how Carlos’ awkward comment about not being adequate for Jay probably meant he was horrifically insecure, and just telling him flatly that he’d made a massive blunder would upset him and could result in _‘your cute little date making a run for it’_.

 

So, before showering, Amir told him to wait for _‘Carly’_ to say his name and then gently correct his _‘pronunciation’_.

The date was only a few days away; it would be all sorted out soon enough.

 

* * *

 

Carlos

 

And Jay had totally been on board with gentle correcting but Carlos’ bright white hair and even brighter white smile dazzled Jay and he was so love…uh…err…. like struck that he didn’t even notice Carlos had called him Jake five times before they had even taken their seats. The home arena of the Fantasia Flamingos was well lit enough to examine the exact shade of Carlos’ eyes and he rambled non-stop about player stats and predicted outcomes.

 

By the time Jay remembered that he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Carlos’ name blunders the two boys had taken a seat, the tourney game beginning in only moments and Carlos didn’t address him by name again, only pausing in his raucous cheering every now and again to look at Jay with unbridled glee.

 

Carlos was so happy about the way the game was going, he didn’t even seem to mind when his ecstatic jumping spilled his fifteen-dollar popcorn all over the concrete floor of the arena seating. Jay was only a little bitter about his wasted money, those tickets weren’t cheap but neither was that popcorn.

 

But the apology kiss on Jay’s cheek made the whole thing okay. Almost-ish.

 

At half time, Jay turned to his smaller date.

“So, we’re totally crushing it, aren’t we!”

“Oh, hells yeah, I thought we were going to tank this game as Granite City have really been on a roll since half their team was replaced during that steroids crackdown.”

“I know! You’d think they would play better with steroids but turns out only the shitty players took them…or something. They’re not my team so I don’t actually know anything too much about them.”

 

Jay was feeling great about this whole thing, their team was five points up and Carlos was all giggly, and kept leaning on Jay while grabbing his forearms. It was not at all subtle but very cute, and flirty as the two of them rode the incredible high of wearing the jersey of the winning team. Jay could so do this.

 

Unfortunately, after the second half began, the Fantasia Flamingos and Jay’s luck took a turn for the worse. It started with a field-length goal from the Granite City quarterback. This incredible feat seemed to shake the Flamingos to their core and they let through three easy shots in as many minutes.

 

By the end of the ninety-minute game, they’d lost by a staggering 21 points. Carlos was trying to stay positive, obviously for the sake of not ruining the date. But when Carlos looked up at him with sad eyes, Jay was helpless.

 

“Uh, thanks for the date, Jake.”

“No problem, hey, so I’d love to take you out again. Definitely soon.”

“I’m so sorry we lost. But maybe next time I could take you out?” Carlos’ voice went up several octaves in a rather incredible range.

“Sounds amazing, text me.”

“Yeah, I will Jake.” Carlos kissed Jay’s lips quickly before they headed back to Mal’s car that Jay had borrowed.

On the way back to Auradon Capital, Carlos bounced off several date ideas, to which all Jay blindly agreed. He was just so mad at himself for missing another chance to correct Carlos, the longer this went on, the worse it was going to be.

 

 

The purple flames on the side of the car glinted in the moonlight as the two guys got out in front of Carlos’ dorm block. Jay got out as well, ready to gently correct Carlos at any second.

But a tipsy Audrey and a _very_ tipsy Chad came stumbling out of the front door of the dorms. Immediately the two of them zeroed in on Jay from where he stood leaning against the driver’s door.

 

“Oh my god, there’s the hot guy who sucks at bringing me coffeeeeee!” Audrey squealed louder than could have possibly been warranted.

“Jacinta!” Chad exclaimed in an even higher voice.

 

"Oh." Jay said, obviously completely put out by the appearance of the two royal teens. "Uh...hey." He spat out reluctantly after a pause of uncomfortable length.

"Oh, Jake are these your friends?" Carlos asked, looking hopeful but resigned that the two new comers were not in Jay's friendship group.

 

"Come party with us Jaclyn!" Chad offered, the alcohol apparently numbing him from the heat of Jay's glare. Give him a goatee and age him 20 years and he could have passed for Jafar.

 

"Uh, Carlos, this is Audrey and Chad, I don't know if I mentioned them to you."

 

Carlos knew of them very well. Jay had spent a good half hour of their first date mocking both of them equally. Mostly equally. Chad may have gotten a little more screen time, complete with unflattering impressions.

 

"Oh, I'm not sure. But it's nice to meet you?" Carlos didn't sound terribly sure about that sentiment. At least from where Jay was standing.

 

"So. How in line to the throne are you?" Audrey asked Jay.

"Because Chad is next. And he always gets a freshman to get my coffee order right. But I'll always love you."

 

Jay went from irate to concerned in seconds.

 

"Audrey, maybe it's time for you to go to bed. How much have you had to drink?"

 

"Like five inches."

"Five inches of alcohol?"

"Hmmm."

"Oh Kay. Sounds legit." Jay said dubiously.

 

Chad had sat down on the curb and taken his phone out, and from the sounds was taking consecutive selfies with a bleary smile.

 

"Carlos, this is your block, would you take Audrey to her bedroom? If she's professing her love for me despite my lack of coffee proficiency, she's more drunk than she looks."

 

"No problem."

Carlos looped Audrey's arm over his shoulder, turning over his empty shoulder to smile at Jay.

"I had an amazing date Jake. I'll text you soon."

 

Ugh. It was getting to the point where it would be too late to correct Carlos, that however good the moment was, it would be weird.

 

* * *

 

“This is a disaster!”

“But you like Carlos…don’t you? Look Jay, he’s crazy about you, he sent me a whole basket of Radley’s baked goods as a thank you for setting the two of you up.”

“That is so fucking adorable. Just like him…but no…”

“Great, we’re going on a double date and Carlos already agreed. I called him this morning.”

“You spoke to Carlos. Out loud?” Jay paused. “Did he say anything. About me?”

“I’m not sure, there was crazy levels of static, Mal was doing magic in the same room, and you know what she does to telephones when she’s rhyming out some magic.”

“Ah, that would explain it.”

 

Evie tried to get the bottom of what Jay seemed bothered about but Jay refused to say anything, as Evie seemed to be really good friends with Carlos. He just had no idea how neither of them had said his name to each other.

 

* * *

 

Jay arrived at the restaurant early. Carlos was standing outside, scuffing the toes of his spiked sneakers against the pavement, the edges of his hair superlit by the halo of the moon.

 

Jay took two steps towards Carlos before his date took one look at Jay with his hair tied back and did a running leap.

 

“Shout out to my tourney training for having the reflexes and strength to catch you.”

“How dare you sir! Are you saying I’m fat?” Carlos gasped in mock insult, making to climb down from his perch in Jay’s arms.

“No! Babe, please don’t leave, I can change.”

They both made serious eye contact before cracking up into raucous laughter.

 

Suddenly, Carlos pointed at something behind Jay.

“There’s Evie and Doug!”

“Hey,” Jay said softly, seeing that the unlikely couple were still a while away.  “So, I have to ask you for something.”

“Anything.” Carlos said, cheery and smiley.

“Don’t say my name?” Jay didn’t want to go through the whole embarrassing debacle of correcting Carlos in front of other people. “Well, see,” he stalled, trying to come up with some plausible reason as to why Carlos can’t say his name. “Doug was tormented by a horrible person named Jake. He has like PMS.”

“PTSD?”

“Yeah! That one!”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

Unfortunately, that was precisely when Evie came over, threw both of her perfectly manicured hands around Jay’s neck and exclaimed:

“Jay, you heart thief, you look lovely.”

Carlos raised both eyebrows.

“Evie!” He stage whispered. “His name is Jake! Aren’t you guys friends?”

Jay slapped his forehead.

“Uh, Carlos, I may have something to tell you.” Jay began hesitantly, before explaining the whole thing about the noisy coffee shop, and the upset over the game, and his drunk ex-dates.

 

“Look, it was getting to the point where my only option was to legally change my name, but I didn’t want you to feel embarrassed or anything.”

“I guess it is pretty funny.” Carlos admitted reluctantly. “Let’s go on this double date.”

 

Jay could still tell that Carlos was pretty bummed to have been calling Jay the wrong name for days, but was still being pleasant. However, his demeanour was distant and a little cold.

Eventually, Evie and Doug went out on the balcony to look at the moon or something, and Jay turned to Carlos.

 

“Look, _babe_ , I get that you’re mad but I’m sick of needing my jacket every time I lean over for the water. I’m sorry you’re embarrassed but I handled it the best that I could. But if it is all too much for you, it’s not like we’ve been dating that long. We can just call it quits now, no harm, no foul.”

 

Carlos look struck. “Jake…uh Jay, I don’t want to break up. I just, you’re not mad at me?”

“Carlos, it was a mistake and I still want to go out with you. Why would I be angry? It’s something we’ll be able to laugh about someday.”

“It is going to be awkward explaining to all my friends this whole story.”

“I could just go ahead and change my name.”

“Nah, Jay suits you, and so does that bun.” And there was the witty banter Jay adored.

By the time Evie and Doug had come back, the two guys were bickering back and forth like they’d known each other for ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Amir - Unknown origins but mentioned briefly by the Tourney coach.  
> Radley - Son of Red Riding Hood, loves to bake but pretends to hate it. Has a 'weird' fascination with his mother's antagonist's daughter. (Tala - daughter of Big Bad Wolf)


End file.
